Be My Escape
by xxX POISON Xxx
Summary: When you're living with your rich, evil stepdad and your kind,younger brother, life is full of curveballs. When you're a popular young teenager with nothing but the opposite sex on your mind, curveballs are your specialty. [MxS]
1. Just Forget

Okay, so I've done some editing, I'm hoping it will be better this time around. Sorry for the wait! Enough of my rambling though, ON WITH THE STORY.

**Disclaimer: **I have not owned, do not own, will not _ever_ own Inuyasha or any of it's characters, they all belong to Takahashi-sama.

* * *

Be My Escape

**xxX POISON Xxx**

**Chapter One**

Strong winds shook the trees outside and a light mist poured over the town. A young, raven haired girl started as her friend with long, chestnut hair sat down in the booth across from her. The raven-haired girl gave a small giggle as her friend let out a heavy sigh. Her friend's shift had just ended at _Myoga's Café_ and she was exhausted from serving all the holiday customers bustling in and out for a quick fix.

"I swear I never want to see another cup of coffee for as long as I live." The raven-haired girl gave a small laugh at this.

"Well I can't guarantee a lifetime but at least you don't have to see one for the rest of the day." She tried to sound cheerful, but the girl only sighed again.

"Come on Kagome, lets get out of here. I don't think I can stand it for one more second." The girl called Kagome giggled again.

"Aw, does poor little Sango want to go home?" she cooed mockingly. The chestnut-haired girl obviously did not find humor in her cooing sounds and gave a small glare.

The Chestnut haired girl dubbed Sango untied and hung up her apron on the rack in the back of the shop and grabbed her coat in place of it. The two walked out of the shop into the cold air of the impending winter season and as a breeze blew by, they bundled their coats closer to their bodies.

"Um…so where did you park again?" The taller girl asked, shivering from the cold winds.

"I walked." Kagome said regretfully.

"You're kidding me. You walked two miles to come pick me up, so we could walk two _more_ miles back to your house?" came her disbelieving reply.

"You make it sound like a bad thing. And anyways, it's only one and a _half_."

The chestnut haired girl whimpered at her terrible misfortune. It was bad enough that she had gotten hot coffee spilled all over her newly cleaned apron, harassed by a man 4 times her age, and yelled at by her boss for telling him off, but now she had to put up with walking two- one and a half- miles just to relax with her friend? Fate was against her.

"Well it may not have been this cold when you got here, but its freezing now." She looked over and noticed that her friend had already started to walk without her.

"We may as well start walking now, the sooner we start, the sooner we can finish. Besides, wasn't it you who kept saying we should gout and get some exercise?"

By the time they arrived, Kagome was already regretting walking.

"I can't feel my face anymore!" she whined slapping her cheeks lightly to get some feeling back in them.

"You wanted to walk, besides, we needed the exercise." She snorted.

"What? It was your suggestion in the first place!" Sango only rolled her eyes.

"Okay Kagome."

Kagome pulled out her keys and quickly unlocked the door. The girls walked into the warm haven gratefully and kicked off their shoes by the door. They all but ran up the stairs to Kagome's room, stopping only long enough for Kagome to see a note on the fridge from her mother:

_Kagome, _

_Went to the movies, be back around 10:00_

_Love,_

_Mom, Gramps, Sota_

Sango sat down on Kagome's dark green beanbag chair near the heater and shut her eyes with a lofty sigh to better soak in the comfort. Kagome's sudden squeal of excitement made her open her eyes lazily and see her friend pause her rifling through the mess on her desk and find a movie from the video rental place down the street.

The duo ended up watching the movie, which, much to Sango's displeasure, turned out to be a romance movie that she had seen playing on TV in a back-to-back-to-back marathon.( Kagome squealed every time the main character said a cheesy, cliché, not at all cute line.) The fun didn't stop there though. Once that tragedy had ended they moved on to just chatting, which relieved Sango to no end- or so she thought. First they talked about this guy at school that seemed to be in love with Kagome. Hojo, or something equally goofy sounding. The two analyzed all the clumsy but kind points of the cheerful boy, Kagome mentioning how when she was sick, he'd always come to the family's shrine to bring her get-well gifts. Sango put in some teasing comments on how much he liked her and Kagome just brushed it off because she didn't like him anyways.

When Kagome next glanced up at the clock, she realized it was getting late, and they _did_ still have school tomorrow. She informed Sango of the time, and she said her goodbye before grabbing her things and making her departure.

"See you tomorrow." Sango said hugging her best friend before slipping on her shoes and leaving for home.

When she arrived on her street she noticed a moving truck. 'New neighbors? I wonder who it is….' It was then that she noticed silver hair and hazel eyes staring her way.

"Wait a second…" the she mumbled to herself. She ran over and gave him a big hug. "I can't believe you're here! Are you the ones moving in?!" she said, still slightly in shock. "Ya, my dad decided that place wasn't safe after…" He trailed off.

"Yeah…so…how is it since your brother moved out?"

"Paradise!" he exclaimed.

"I'm glad I don't have to put up with being near that bastard anymore!"

She gave a small laugh at this. Everyone who knew Inuyasha and his family knew that he and his brother hated each others guts. Inuyasha's ears perked up a bit at the grass rustling behind him. Sango tilted her head to see past him at what she guessed was one of the movers.

"A-ano," he started nervously to be getting stared at by the both of them all of a sudden. "Your father has requested your assistance, if you don't mind…"

"I see."

"Yeah…Well, I've gotta go now anyways, my dad's gonna get upset if I'm any later."

"Ok well, talk to ya later." He said and went back into his house.

She opened the door cautiously and then paused when she noticed it wouldn't open any further. She peeked through the crack to see that the floor had multiple trash and cans lying around in the pathway of the door. She sighed and squeezed through the barely cracked door, grateful that she and Kagome had walked that mile and a half after all. She closed the door slowly and carefully behind her, so as not to wake the unconscious form on the couch.

She _so_ did not feel like dealing with that right now.

She walked towards the stairs cautiously, and accidentally kicked an empty beer bottle. She held her breath, frozen and prayed that the sound had not woken him. She heard a door open upstairs and started at the sudden noise. She saw her little brother's head peek from around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief. She sighed and started up the stairs, whispering to him.

"Thank god it was only…"

She stopped talking and skipped multiple steps, approaching him carefully. She took his chin and maneuvered his head to examine it.

"What the heck is all this brown stuff on your face??" She dropped her bag and used the freed hand to reach and flicked on the hallway light, but as soon as she did, she wished she hadn't.

There was a large cut just above his eyebrow, and another gash along his cheek, his lip bruised and bleeding. Through all this he did not show a sign of crying. She swallowed thickly and barely managed to ask "Did…you get in a fight at school?" Sadly enough she was praying the answer was yes. He slowly shook his head, and her heart sank. Although she had already guessed at the answer, she again had to ask-

"Did he do this to you?" Her head giving a weak nod in the direction of the stairs. His silence told it all, and it broke her heart. She gently lifted his chin with her fingers to get a look at his face. He looked apathetic, indifferent. She released his face and he ducked his head as if he were ashamed. She pulled him into a tight hold and didn't let go, even when she heard the man downstairs shifting in his sleep.

"Sister…?" She made a small noise of acknowledgement in the back of her throat to tell him she heard.

"…I'm sorry"

For the first time in a long time, she began to cry. She knew she shouldn't be crying in front of Kohaku so she let him go and turning her face, told him to go clean his face up in the bathroom, to which he obediently complied.

"I'm sorry too…" she said when the bathroom door clicked quietly shut.

She dropped her stuff on the carpet in her room and walked over to her dresser, slowly picking up a picture of her family, years ago. A smaller version of herself and her brother, along with both of her parents, were standing in front of the house her father had built for them all to live in. She took the picture and sat down on her bed flopping backwards to lay down with her legs dangling off the foot of the bed.

She hugged the picture to her chest and cried till her whole body shook, and when she couldn't cry anymore, she sat up and put the picture back on her dresser. She took some clothes out of her dresser instead and opened her door to go out into the hallway. She looked around, seeing Kohaku's door was now shut she peeked downstairs and saw that her father wasn't there, but his mess still was.

She came back into the hallway and walked into the bathroom to take a nice soothing shower. She turned on the water and jumped at the freezing temperature. She dodged the water's path and quickly turned the knob further to change it to hot. She sighed in relief and allowed the steamy heaven to wash away her stress and worries as the hot water trailed down her slender form, but it ended all too quickly. She heard a door slam and a man's yelling he was back, despite the fact that she didn't want to deal with him just yet. She quickly shut off the water and wrapped a towel around herself.

'_Maybe I'll be able to get out before-_'

Oops, too late.

She swung open the door to find none other than her foster father looking down at her with a disgusted scowl. "Get dressed and clean my house already. It's a mess."

This was what it was like to be at home. Ever since she and Kohaku lost their _real_ father about a year ago. Kohaku didn't even know how it happened; he just knew that he and Sango were on their own now, but Sango knew, and she remembered everything that happened.

Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach.

She muttered a solemn 'Yes sir…'

It really didn't make any sense that he was ordering her to clean like she was his little servant or something when it was his mess of beer bottles and cans and whatever else he could possibly find to dirty up the house with, not to mention the fact that he was completely and totally capable of hiring a maid or butler.

It wasn't as if they were poor or anything. They were actually quite wealthy; After all, her _Step_father owned one of the largest companies in Japan.

She brushed these thoughts aside however as she walked into her room quickly to avoid the chilly air outside of the steamy bathroom. She changed into her favorite flannel pajama pants and a wifebeater and put her hair into her signature high ponytail.

"Guess I better start with all those bottles downstairs." She sighed.

Sango plopped onto her bed with a tired sigh, but sat up immediately when she felt that her tears hadn't dried off of her pillow yet. She sighed again.

'I wonder if we'll ever be happy again…'

(A/N: Sorry to break in here, but for this next part, the following applies:

'_blah'_ Sango's thoughts

'**blah'** Kagome's thoughts

"blah" Talking on either side

Okay, hope that makes it less confusing!)

She was cut off of her own thoughts as her cell phone rang. She checked the number (couldn't waste minutes talking to people about useless things) and when she saw it was Kagome, she instantly picked it up.

"Hello?" '_Wonder what she wants…_'

"Sango! It's such a relief to hear your voice!"

"Is something wrong?"

"Well…yes, but…promise me you won't tell Ayame okay?"

"Well…I guess…" _'It'll be weird keeping things from my friend…'_

"…Um, actually…never mind. I'll see you at school tomorrow okay?"

"Huh? Are you sure?" '_What's with that all of a sudden?_'

"Y-…yeah…Later!" **_'Whew, that was close'_**

Sango heard a click on the other line before she could say anything more.

'_I hope she's okay…_'

----------

Monday

----------

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

"Mmm….five more minutes….."Then, a shout from downstairs:

"WENCH! TURN OFF THAT (colorful phrase) ALARM, NOW!!!"

'_ok, _no_ more minutes_'

She rolled over to face the clock and groped around for the alarm-eyes still closed. She knocked countless items off her dresser until she finally hit the button that would make her impending headache go away.

She sighed and attempted to get out of bed, unfortunately, the covers got caught on her foot and she ate carpet. She growled into the sea of peach.

"I _hate_ Mondays…." She yanked her foot out of the flannel blankets none too gently and shuffled over to her dresser.

'Let's see what we've got today…'

She chose some simple jeans and her favorite, red baby-tee that was still long enough to reach her butt. She had sewed on fishnets a long time ago to act as sleeves. She put on her last minute accessories (rings bracelets etc.) and slipping her hair into her signature high ponytail, she slipped on her black converse and walking down the hall to wake Kohaku.

She then proceeded downstairs to grab her backpack that was covered in sharpie. She grabbed two pieces of bread and put them in the toaster for Kohaku then took an apple and went outside to her brand new 2007 Civic Si Sedan.

It was a strange mix of red and pink, her favorite colors, with all black interior, and newly polished chrome rims. She threw her backpack in the back seat, put the key in the ignition, turned it and waited for Kohaku.

Moments later, the boy dashed out of the house with toast in his mouth, his hair messy and his backpack all but dragging on the walkway. She laughed a little at this as he jumped into the car, and backing out of the driveway, she sped off towards the school.

He turned off the alarm clock before it really even went off. Violet eyes snapped open but narrowed slightly upon greeting the blinding light of morning. He sat up slowly and stretched, yawning. Groggily pulling the covers off of his legs, he swung them over to the edge of his bed and, after another yawning stretch, stood slowly. He cracked his neck and walked over to the mirror hanging above his dresser.

Running a hand through his unruly long hair he picked up and elastic from the dresser and pulled his hair into a small ponytail and the nape of his neck, his bangs coming out of the elastics hold and covering his eyes just slightly. He pulled open the top drawer and grabbed a black t-shirt, then slipped into his faded blue zip-up hoodie (It was blue but everyone always thought it was purple) with his favorite low blue jeans.

He brushed his teeth and threw on his black converse. He slid down the stair rail, grabbed his backpack by the door and headed outside before locking the door and continuing on. He walked through the peaceful neighborhood and into the bustling city, flashing a charming smile to any and every pretty girl he saw.

'I just hope that my new school has lots of pretty girls' he casually strolled along on the sidewalk past some shops with one strap of his backpack slung over his right shoulder, his hand holding it, and the other hand in his pocket playing with his keys.

As he walked along he noticed a magenta blur speed past him, but he was more interested about what, or should I say who, was _inside_ the blur. He had just caught a glimpse of the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Suddenly he felt more motivated to get to school.

Maybe just maybe, he would see _her_ there…

* * *

Ok, that about wraps up the first chapter. Told you I wouldn't take too long. I thought I'd be nice and upload it today so you guys have two new things (Or maybe just one and a half) from me to read. 

Mucho love to all who will read, whether or not you review.

So anywho, hope you enjoyed.

**(Hey you…I'll give you a dollar if you leave a review ;D)**


	2. Subhuman

Hey, guys. I know I haven't updated in a long time. I do have a valid excuse though. School. I've been so burnt out from stupid testing and huge projects and all that. So there you go, that's why I've been **MIA** this whole time. Any who, this one is a couple pages longer than the last chapter to make up for the wait. I only just got back to work on this today after seeing that my kind and loving readers left me another review, so I felt bad, and thus, this chapter was finished in a few hours time. (More like six hours actually, I'm a really slow worker) Anyways, I'll shut up now and let you read the actual story, unless of course you were never reading this in the first place, in which case I'm making my arms cramp up for nothing…

**Be My Escape**

Chapter 2

xxX POISON Xxx

Now this, she decided, would not work.

After sitting through traffic and suffering the effects of apparent road rage, Sango finally managed to get her brother to school just in time, and seeing as how Kohaku's school started 5 minutes before hers, and that she still had to sit in at least 10 more minutes of traffic, it was becoming painfully obvious she would be late, or be rushing into class at the last minute at the very least.

Fortunately enough for her (or probably because she was speeding), she got to school with 2 minutes to spare.

'Perfect! One minute to park and another minute to get to class!' She whipped out her schedule to see where she would have to make a mad dash to in a few seconds.

1. English 3cp

2. Art

3. History

4. P.E.

5. Bio

6. Pre-Calculus

She hurriedly found a spot, pulled in and ran onto campus, her schedule having been crammed into her pocket the minute she turned off her car.

Unfortunately enough for her, she got to class literally _seconds_ after the teacher started class, and some guy sat in her spot and folded his arms leaning back in his chair.

'Why are all my calculations going wrong today?'

She mentally cursed the boy and almost shook a fist at him, but stopped herself realizing she'd look stupid, and also that everyone, including the teacher turned to look at her.

"Miss Nakamura, I'll let it slide since it's the first day, but try not to be late next time, Okay?"

"Y-yes ma'am." She sulked all the way to her row, but remembered the boy that took her seat and trudged to the next row behind them and sat directly behind Kagome. She plopped into the seat and let her head fall to the table with a **thump **and a groan.

'_Today is gonna __**suck**__.'_

* * *

I casually stroll into class about ten minutes after it's started, but seeing as how the teacher is only about twenty and obviously has a crush on me, I think I can pull off being as late as I feel like. 

As soon as I slide open the door, all heads turn towards me-except that weird stoner kid that sits in the back and picks up on just about **nothing** the teacher and anyone else who's bored enough to attempt communication with him talks about. I shrug it off of course and flash the teacher a charming smile, making her cheeks tinge pink before she primly tells me to 'please have a seat', and 'get out my textbook'. Kami, what crawled up her ass and died? Must be "that time of the month" or something.

Whatever, I walk just as slowly up the steps as I did strolling into class all the way up to the fifth row and down that row all the way to the eighth seat-only to find that there is some chick sitting in it. She has her head on the desk so I poke her to get her attention. Nothing happens, and now the teacher is giving me a look that clearly says 'quit screwing around and _sit_!' I sigh resignedly and take the seat to her immediate right, all the while vowing to not let anyone steal my seat tomorrow.

* * *

Sango lifted her head with a start as she heard the bell ring, nearly falling out of her seat with the sudden movement. She looked around to see several students in the vicinity giving her strange looks. She shot them looks back as if they were the ones being weird, sending a majority scurrying off from the "crazy girl". She sighed heavily, remembering now that she had slept through the entire period. 

'_Must have dozed off…'_

She looked directly ahead of her to Kagome, who strangely enough was glaring at some guy next to her - the same guy who had stolen her seat.

"Quit lookin at me like that, wench!"

"I told you my name is Ka-Go-Me! Say it with me!"

"Feh! Sounds exactly like _wench_ to me!"

Sango was about to tell them both to shut up and go to class, but someone beat her to it.

"Leave her alone, man. We need to get to class anyways."

She blinked and looked toward the source of the silky smooth voice. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw just who had befriended the arrogant jerk glaring at Kagome.

The dark (not to mention long) haired boy blinked and stood up with a snort.

"Whatever." He stormed out of the classroom with a less than pleasant air about him. Mr. smooth-voice was instantly on it, dashing over to Kagome's side and taking her hand in his.

"I'm terribly sorry for any trouble he's caused, he's only angry because-"

"Oi! Miroku, you comin or not?!" The boy shouted from the hall at a less-than-necessary volume.

The Miroku boy sighed, and reluctantly dropped Kagome's hand.

"See you around-both of you!" He winked at them both and gave one last quick wave before Mr. Stick-in-the-ass had stormed back in to drag him by the collar to class.

Sango sighed in relief at the end of their little show, turning to Kagome with eyebrows raised.

"What the heck did you even do to him?"

Kagome never got the chance to reply however, because as soon as she opened her mouth, the late bell rang.

"Aw, Damn!" Sango exclaimed throwing her arms in the air in exasperation.

* * *

Lunch rolled around, and like usual, Sango met up with Kagome, whose locker was conveniently right next to hers. She sighed heavily, like she had been all day, and threw her head back to look at the paint peeling off of the ceiling. 

"Aw, cheer up, Sango! It's already lunch, and after this just a few more classes!"

'_But we're only halfway there…' _she thought darkly. As if sensing her friend's pessimistic thoughts, Kagome patted her lightly on the back.

"Don't worry, besides, at least you know you've got an admirer now…" She let those words sink in to Sango's weary brain and took off walking down the hall.

3, 2, 1…

"Wait…? What the hell are you talking about??" she asked quizzically, irritated because she now noticed she was being left behind.

"Y'know - that guy in first period…" She nudged Sango in the arm.

Nudge, nudge, nudge…

"Kagome, it doesn't matter how many times you elbow me in my ribcage, there are a lot of guys in first period." Said girl gave a tired sigh. Was her friend really this dense??

"Oh, come on! The guy with the little ponytail…?" She trailed off raising a thin eyebrow, one hand raised and pointing to the nape of her neck.

Suddenly, it dawned on Sango that her friend might be clinically insane.

And Sango was one to voice her thoughts.

"Are you _insane_?"

"What? Of course not! Don't even tell me you didn't see the way he winked at you!" The two got into line for some of the school's cheap lunches.

"He winked at the _both_ of us! And _both_ of those winks were exactly the same!" she exclaimed, emphasizing the word both by pointing at herself and Kagome.

Kagome rolled her eyes and turned around from facing Sango in back of her, to a scrawny nerd in front of her who was taking entirely too long to pick from the menu. She clicked her tongue in annoyance when some big stupid jocks started to make their way over.

Sango looked over at the small noise and knew what it was before it even started.

It happened all the time; the school was a hierarchy after all.

A push here.

The "jocks" or "preps" would always scour the lunch room or hallways for any stray nerds, and when they found their target, they pounced.

A shove there.

It seemed Kagome had had enough of their stupidity, and when they shoved him back into her, she finally snapped.

"_Don't you oversized __**idiots **__have_ _**anything**__better to do then harass other people_?!"

All movement in the cafeteria seemed to come to an abrupt halt, both Sango _and_ Kagome thoroughly surprised because it was, in fact, _Sango_ who snapped at them, beating Kagome to the punch line. And speaking of punches…

"What did you say…?" A particularly large young man in front of the girls who seemed to have been the main attacker on the poor nerd (who was currently inching away, Sango noticed - so much for gratitude!)

Her courage ebbing away by the second, Sango bit her lip and gave what she hoped sounded intimidating reply.

"Y-You heard me! So quit picking on him!" Wow, she must really be trying to get herself killed, but she supposed it was better than the nerd coming back the next day with an assault rifle.

She felt a familiar nudge in her ribs and Kagome leaned over to whisper fiercely in her ear,

"_Do you think we can take them all_?"

Well, damn.

Sango had gotten into a few fights here and there before, but she didn't know about handling testosterone and possible steroid-driven sports freaks. Well, whatever damage they did couldn't be anything worse than a certain someone back home.

What about Kagome, though? She figured she may be able to distract them just long enough for Kagome and nerd-man to get away.

'_It's_ _just crazy enough to work_!' She looked over at Kagome and whispered back,

"_When I give the signal, take tall dark and scrawny over there and haul ass!_" Kagome openly gaped in disbelief at her friends words and was going to refuse when big and ugly decided he didn't like their secretive whispering.

"What are you two talking about over here?" His voice was dangerously low, and the two jumped when they realized how close he had gotten all of a sudden. Sango prodded her gently and discreetly away and Kagome had no choice but to obey. She ran over to the nerd and the two retreated a safe distance away, unnoticed by the burly football-head being distracted by Sango.

"Oh, nothing a Sasquatch could _possibly_ understand…" Not the _best_ comeback, but apparently it got the job done because her arm was now being crushed under his iron-gripping monkey hands. She winced, noting that, yes that would be bruised big time tomorrow. She glanced over to Kagome sighing a little (in relief of course) that at least her friend wouldn't get pummeled.

"You're gonna wish you never met me…" His grip only grew tighter on her arm with no signs of letting up, and she was actually starting to get worried he would do something to her. She had just seen a news special about a guy shooting his ex-girlfriend in a T.V. news station…

She felt his grip falter suddenly and looked up to see another hand, only it was gripping the jock's arm as tightly as the jock gripped hers.

"Now, now, is that any way to treat a lady?"

She knew that voice! That was-

"What are you gonna do about it, ya scrawny punk?" The jock let go and yanked his own arm from Miroku's grasp. Sango rubbed the circulation back into her arm and watched the scene unfolding before her in confusion.

She watched Miroku's tense muscles relax as he slipped his hands into his pockets and an easy grin slid onto his face.

"If I were you I wouldn't be worried about what I'm about to do, But I would recommend that you start apologizing to this young woman here."

The jock's face twisted into a snarl and he began to advance on Miroku, all the while cracking his knuckles threateningly.

"And if I don't?" the whole team of brutes started in on Miroku, but froze at hearing a hard voice from the doorway whose tone immediately did away with any arguments that may have come from them.

"You deal with me." Everyone snapped their head in the direction of the door – save for Sango and Miroku, whose smirk had grown into a full blown grin by now.

All the jocks stood up straighter and looked down at the floor in what Sango supposed must be fear judging by the voice at the door just now.

She finally looked up to it and noticed that standing next to the guy with the scary voice was Kagome, who was panting heavily for some reason. She saw the guy with dark hair – that guy again…? - From first period pass by the door and come back to peek in curiously.

Miroku turned to her, his grin disappearing and giving way to a kind smile.

"Are you alright?" Sometime during his inquiry, her eyebrow twitched.

With an indignant sniff she turned away from him and folded her arms, only faintly noticing the man who she now knew to be the coach of the school football team yelling relentlessly at the group of jocks.

"I didn't need your help. I could've taken care of it myself." She saw him blink confusedly out of the corner of her eye, but her attention was drawn back to Kagome as said girl rushed over to her friend and immediately checked for injuries, gasping when she saw Sango's arm.

"What happened - I got back as soon as I could – I got some help – your arm is…!" She could only sigh as she witnessed her friend cutting herself off in her worry.

"I'm fine, really. It's only a little bruise -"

"But your arm is…-"

"It's fine – look." She tried to lift her arm to show them all just how fine her arm was - Only to cry out when a jolt of pain shot through her arm. She was now noticing that her arm also just happened to be a lovely shade of purple.

"Oh. Well, nothing a little healing time won't fix!" she realized the only way to derail Kagome's worrying was to be cheerful and optimistic, even if it was only by a little, and even if she herself was starting to freak out.

Kagome only frowned.

She also realized that Kagome was her best friend, and that she had never been able to lie to her very successfully.

"C'mon, we should get you to the nurse…" The rest of the incident faded away- except the part where the coach made the group of jocks apologize to her. That part she enjoyed immensely.

* * *

The rest of the day went on without incident. She found out her arm was only badly bruised and was sent home with a pack of ice taped on her arm. She only had to act upset by the whole incident and everyone freaked out and sent her on her way. 

When she arrived home she unlocked the door and opened it to see it completely cleaned and sparkly clean. She went into the kitchen, finding that someone had done the dishes for her - not a bad deal – and walked on to the stairs. As she reached the top flight, she turned to see that her door was open, and she wondered briefly if that would be clean too.

Fifteen minutes later found her in her favorite pajamas and jamming to her favorite CD, lying back on her neatly made bed, but making sure not to aggravate her arm.

She stared at her ceiling, glad that she finally had some time to herself to think.

She wondered briefly why that boy had come to her rescue – and also what would have happened if he hadn't shown up when he did.

She shuddered at the thought, and quickly changed her brains path to her friend Ayame, who was still at home, sick, and her other friend who had been MIA all day.

She sat up quickly, only wincing a little at the pain it caused her arm, and wondered how she could have forgotten so easily.

'Where _was_ Inuyasha today?' She replayed the whole day through her head and could only recall one person who could have possibly been-

Oh, duh! She vowed that tomorrow she wouldn't be tricked by his crafty little disguises.

* * *

Tuesday morning she rushed into her class, intending on keeping her silent promise not to let anyone get her seat today. She opened the door with a tinge of anxiety fueling her actions and walked briskly up to her seat, slamming her bag down on it in victory. Grinning in satisfaction, she turned around and slammed straight into the chest of none other than Inuyasha, the very next mission on her list that morning. She backed up a bit and rubbed her nose painfully with her right arm, then looked up at her long-time friend. 

He was the first to speak.

"What happened yester - What the hell is wrong with your arm??" he said, now noticing the bluish mark there.

"Tactful as ever, huh? Some stupid jocks were bugging Kagome and I, so -"

"That's what they did? Those idiots made us all have to run extra laps yesterday!" He folded his arms and faced the front of the classroom, turning only his head to her.

"You're okay, right?" She smiled. It was good to see that he was still a good friend, despite his rough exterior attitude.

"I'm fine." He nodded and then turned toward her again, pointing at the seat with her bag in it.

"That's my seat."

* * *

She slammed her locker door shut, and couldn't find Kagome anywhere, so she supposed she should just go to the cafeteria alone, until she saw a bright head of hair walking toward her. 

"Oh! Ayame!" she called out. The red-haired girl looked up from the ground and gave a grin to her friend.

"How are you feeling?" Sango said giving her friend a hug and then picking her bag back up.

"Much better, thanks." Sango caught her smile falter slightly and frowned.

"That's not the face of someone who's better. What's the matter?" Ayame blinked then looked down, clutching the strap by her waist to her bag.

"It's- look, I'm not trying to make you keep anything from a friend, but- don't tell Kagome, okay?" Sango nodded hesitantly, hearing these vaguely familiar words.

"Well- I love Kagome to death, but…Well, Kouga kind of broke up with me- yesterday…that's why I didn't come to school."

"But I thought you were -"

"Oh, well ya. That too, but also because I didn't think I could face him…" Sango looked at her friend in sympathy. She pulled her best friend into a comforting hug and tried to offer her some solace.

"Wait- you're not mad at Kagome, are you?" she said pulling back so that she could see her friend's face.

"Well, no. I mean, she can't help it, right?" Sango smiled sadly at her friend, who smiled back just as sadly, but she had to admit that she was proud of her for being so mature and adult about it.

After all, it wasn't easy to have the love of your life ditch you for your best friend.

* * *

Ahem, sorry to leave you on such a sad note, but I'm very tired. So I hope you liked this chapter, I'll get to working on the next chapter when I think of something, which hopefully won't be too long... anyways, _leave me a review to support the tired student fund!_ **(Please?)**

Oh, right! Thank you to all those who read and all those who reviewed my last chapter! Your support means a lot to me!

Ja Ne!


	3. Gazelle City

Hello, hello. First, I just wanna say. I AM SO SORRY. It's been...y'know, it's probably better if I count __ So sorry for the wait, but I've been having a pretty tough time, not to mention that my internet isn't exactly what you would call functional and I've been pretty busy…I know, I know, enough excuses already! Well, I won't keep you too long, and speaking of long, I've worked long and hard to bring you this chapter- I had to dig very deep to get this one back on track, so enjoy! (please)

**(Dis)Claimer:** nope, not mine

**Be My Escape**

**Chapter 3**

**xxX POISON Xxx**

**Wednesday**

Her constant, even footsteps created a rhythmic pattern and her labored breathing added to the beat. Her high ponytail swayed in the wind, swinging with each of her long strides and one lone bead of sweat blazed a trail down her face and onto her neck. The crunching of the gravel under her shoes slowed to a stop as she finished her last lap, walking to stretch her stiff leg muscles out and then plopping onto the soft grass of the football field at the center of the track. She did sitting toe touches and butterflies and then relaxed her legs, picking at her short navy blue gym shorts with two white stripes down each side.

'_I will never understand why the girls' PE uniform needs to be so much smaller than the guys…_' she thought, looking down at her fitted white t-shirt.

She glanced up at the balding gym coach, seeing him talking animatedly to two young girls in her class and it suddenly occurred to her that she would NOT like to know after all.

Her mind's attention was (thankfully) diverted from its current train of thought by her spotting Ayame behind the bleachers with Kouga….wait- Ayame and Kouga?!

Sango snickered silently to herself and got up, dusting her gym shorts off (carefully checking that the coach was turned away of course) and sneaking off towards where she saw Ayame and the Wolf(1).

'_Hehe…Ayame, you dog…_'

As she got closer and closer to the pair, she realized that they were indeed joined at the lips, and as she came even _closer_, the girl's resemblance to Ayame dwindled, until she finally was close enough to hear the two mumbling in each other's faces and could tell with ever-growing dread that this girl- although strikingly similar to Ayame- was not the same person.

Suddenly Sango was filled with anger, and she decided she'd heard enough lip smacking for one day.

"So," the sound of her voice startled the pair apart and they both looked as if they had been caught doing something reprehensible.

"Do you have a thing for red-heads, or were all the blondes taken?"

Kouga seemed taken aback by this remark, but bounced back quickly, retorting with an oh-so-clever "What's it to ya??"

Sango got up from her arm-crossed position leaning against the side of the bleachers and stood up straight, looking more serious.

"Well, aside from the fact that you broke my friend's heart just _two days ago_ for my other friend, who, might I add is _not even _the girl I just caught you sucking face with,"

The girl sneered and folded her arms as well, trying to look intimidating, Sango guessed.

"It's NOTHING to me. But I swear, wolf boy, if I find that you've hurt _any_ of my friends again, I'll take that State Champ football trophy and stick it where the sun don't shine!!"

"This is getting way to serious for me. I'm outta here." The girl turned on her heel and marched indignantly away.

"H-wait! Where ya goin?? Gah…see what ya did NOW?" Sango shrugged a single shoulder as if she'd done nothing and walked away with a bounce in her step. Kouga looked around unhappily seeing that both girls had just walked away from him, and he now had no one to make out with. He sighed in frustration and flipped out his cell phone.

After PE, Sango changed quickly, and a bit shakily, thinking of how she should break the news to one friend, and warn the other.

Luckily, (maybe) she literally ran into Kagome first, her once again sore nose being the proof. She looked up through her pain- teared eyes to see Kagome, walking with none other than Inuyasha.

'_So confusing, these two_…'

"Hey, uh, Kags…can I talk to you for a sec?" she motioned with her thumb behind her, still holding her nose.

"Uh, sure. Hey, I'll see you later Inuyasha." She said smiling sweetly.

Sango led her down the hallway and around the corner before she stopped. She knew of Inuyasha's half demon hearing range.

'_Kagome probably doesn't'_ she thought with a sigh.

"So what's with that?" Sango said nodding her head in Inuyasha's general direction. A split second later (it took Kagome that long to figure what she meant) found Sango covering her ears so that they wouldn't bleed from her friends high-pitched squeals.

Somewhere down the hall, Inuyasha yelped out in pain as the sound hit his ears, drawing strange looks from passersby.

"**What-**" Sango never got to finish as Kagome started talking a mile a minute.

"**Ohmigosh**! Can you _believe_ him?! Football player, TOTAL HOTTIE- did you SEE him??"

Sango thought it best not to tell her who he really was. Not yet at least. That was another adventure for another day.

"Yes, that's great and all but I have something to tell you..." Kagome sensed her friend's seriousness and sobered up immediately.

"Oh, what's the matter?" she asked, concern washing over her blue-grey eyes.

"Uh, it's not me- Kouga. I saw him today, and I thought he was with Ayame but it turned out it was some other chick and so I tore him a new one but now I dunno how I'm gonna tell Ayame and _I have no idea what to do here_!!" She let it out in (surprisingly) one breath.

Kagome took one full second of silence processing this new information before she started cursing the name of Kouga at the top of her lungs. She was about to go off to find him, but Sango grabbed her and held her, all the while trying to control her kicking and screaming friend.

Inuyasha's ears started hurting again and somewhere by the football field, One Kouga Wolfe had a sneeze attack.

"Sheesh," he said wiping his nose, "must be allergy season again." and with that, he walked off to eat his lunch.

Sango yawned and stretched, taking the time to crack her neck and all her fingers.

'_Alrighty, now I can focus on my test!_' She thought with a satisfied smirk. She whipped out her lucky number 2 pencil that was littered in the back with bite marks (reserved only for tests) and got right down to work.

She looked down at her paper and scoffed at the first question.

'_Is he KIDDING? A two year old could answer this!'_ Yes, Sango was feeling very cocky on this day, for she had spent all of 3rd period studying for this very test.

'_Who needs to know about history? History won't get me a high paying job in the medical field!' _

Snickering to herself at her own genius, she set her pencil to the paper and started to move it in the shape of the letters that would answer the first question when some movement outside of the window caught her attention.

And she just HAD to claim the window seat.

'_No, no Sango…focus…test…perfect...score…urgh, damnit!!_'

She finally gave in and looked outside, seeing what the commotion was. She saw three male figures standing outside on the back lawn area, right across from one more lone figure. She recognized them as those jocks from lunch the other day and they were all crowding around the lone figure - Miroku.

"Ah, Crap!" she exclaimed rather loudly, standing up and slapping her desk in the process, having completely forgotten she was in the middle of a test. All heads in the room snapped to her direction, and the teacher raised his eyebrows expectantly, obviously waiting for an explanation.

She violently racked her brain for an excuse, coming up with only one-

"Uh...I mean, Oh NO! I- uh, I really gotta pee..?" the teacher nearly fell out of his chair at hearing this but managed to utter a "**Go.**" While pointing to the door.

She thanked him and dashed out of the classroom, skidding around the corner into the hallway just as the door shut behind her.

'_Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap'_ this was all_ her_ fault that he had gotten mixed up with them in the first place, and if she had just gotten some innocent new kid killed, she didn't know what she would do.

Plus she still had to thank him for the other day.

She dashed down and around the flight of stairs leading to the first floor, then rounded the last corner leading outside into the grassy lunch area. She saw the three jocks closing in dangerously around him and pumped her legs to go faster.

Well, even though she was somewhat of a runner, she didn't reach them before the thickest one threw a punch at his face, the force connecting and sending him flying back.

He caught himself before he started to topple over, and went back on the defensive. He deflected a right straight punch from the thick one with his left hand and swung his right hand to meet the jock's meaty neck in a chop, sending him stumbling forward to the ground. Seeing this, Sango stopped in her tracks a few yards away.

'_Woah! Where the heck did that come from_?!'

He watched the boy fall and then snapped his head up just in time to parry a punch from an extremely tall boy with his left arm, and then counter punch with his right arm. The tall boy was put off for a moment but quickly shook it off and went in for another attack, a left hook this time. Miroku leaned out of the tall boy's reach- no easy task with arms his length- then grabbed his left arm and used his momentum to throw him off balance, kneeing him hard in the stomach and letting him drop to the ground.

'_He's fast…_' Sango thought '_But I should stop this before he gets himself killed. Three-on-one is just plain unfair!!'_

As the tallest boy met the grassy floor, the last, a short fat boy with a buzz-cut, was left with an astonished look at seeing his two large friends on the ground, groaning in pain. He stumbled backward then took off in the direction of the field, screaming in terror. After this display, Sango returned to her senses enough to run up to the young man.

"H…hey! Dude, are you alright?" She said, as he finally turned and acknowledged her presence with eyebrows raised. Apparently, he hadn't noticed her presence until now.

'_Play it cool Miroku, girls love a guy to come to their rescue…_'

"Oh- your face…" she stood on her tiptoes to inspect a bruise on his cheek. Apparently he wasn't _that_ fast. '_Aw, man, it's my fault he got hurt…_' She raised her hand to poke his wound like a child would a dead frog, but he caught her hand gently and began to smile.

"Ah, it's you. I don't believe we've formally met. My name is Miroku Houshi, and your name is…?" He said smoothly, flashing a million-dollar smile.

Sango's eyebrow twitched. How the heck does someone avoid a subject so casually?

"Uh, Look, I'm sorry. If I had any idea that they would come after you I wouldn't have let you get involved." He seemed taken aback by her worry, but he quickly recovered with another grin.

"There is no need for concern."

"Well, if you say so-" She reclaimed her hand and began to turn and walk away, but was stopped by:

"_But_…You _can_ make it up to me if you would do me the honor of letting me take you out for drinks after school."

"Wha--"

She opened her mouth to protest, but, because she was so lucky today-

**RRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG**

Sango sighed miserably as she shut her locker door closed.

'_I can't believe that guy!! Not only did I accidentally ditch class just to help him out, but then he had the nerve, the audacity, to leave his jacket __**on purpose**__ so that I would __**have**__ to see him again!!!_' Her mind flashed back on his sudden departure and a request (felt more like a scam) to bring it to him at the local burger joint later. An incentive he'd said.

'_That sneaky bastard! See if I ever do anyone another favor again!!_' she seethed while clutching a thick navy zip-up hoodie in her fist.

She groaned and hit her forehead against the locker door, pulled out of her thoughts by Kagome's voice.

"Eh? What's the matter, I thought you liked cabbages??"

It suddenly occurred to Sango that she should pay more attention when people were talking to her.

"Er- yeah, totally!! I just, uh, I gotta go to the bathroom…?"

Hey, it worked the first time, right?

Kagome merely gave her friend a strange look and a disbelieving "uh-huh…"

"So what's really going on with you? You've been distracted since after fifth period. What happened?"

"Well, you know that guy you were bugging me about the other day?" Kagome squealed.

"You finally listened to me and talked to him??"

"No. He was being picked on by those jocks from before, so I went to make sure he didn't die, but then he beat the ever-loving crap out of them, and when I went to see if he was ok, heaskedmeouttodrinks and then the bell rang, ok well look at the time, I really _should_ be going." She turned on her heel and tried to escape but she saw Miroku walking towards her and promptly turned again- right into Kagome, arms folded, eyebrow raised and foot tapping.

"E- Er…funny seeing you here?" she said to Miroku, who had just strolled up behind her.

"I'm so glad I found you! I was sitting in class last period and I realized I hadn't caught your name yet." He said with a kind smile, seemingly unfazed at all by the fact that he had asked her out without ever having met her properly.

"Yes, why don't you tell the nice boy your name?" Kagome said with a smile that looked to others like a friendly grin, but Sango knew better- oh, how she knew.

"…Sango." She said as he took her hand to shake it. "It's Sango Nakamura." She said with a lopsided smile. Her smile faltered however, when she remembered she hardly knew this guy, and they were supposed to be going out for drinks later.

"Sorry…" she mumbled dropping his hand.

She lightly shoved his jacket at him, then turned on her heel and walked briskly away.

"Huh? Sango?!" Kagome called after her, and she and Miroku looked on, confused.

5:00 PM found her standing in an overpass, her fingers weaving through the cool metal wires, and her mind playing and replaying the day's events.

"Jeez, what am I doing messing around with guys? I don't have time for this, I've gotta take care of Koha-" Suddenly she gasped remembering that her brother was home alone all this time with their stepfather and she took off in a full on sprint to get home.

'_How could I be so careless??_' she thought worriedly, and as buildings and people flew past her she had only one thought on her mind in the form of her younger sibling.

She flung the door open already halfway into a panic, and surveyed her surroundings frantically.

"…Kohaku? …Kohaku!" she closed the door behind her and walked quickly to the stairs-

"**He's not **_**here**_** anymore.**" Said a groggy voice from the doorway by the stairs. She started at the rough sound of the voice but proceeded to ask regardless.

"…W-what do you mean? Where is he??" She demanded. He gave a chuckle, and inhaled slowly.

"Relax- I didn't do anything to him. He's at his friends house…But _you_ however," He started towards her with slow deliberate steps, a snarl forming on his face with every inch he came closer.

"_You're gonna pay for what __**you've**__ done..._"

o0OOO0o

She stared on through bleary eyes and watched her stepfather stumble back into his room and slam the door. Her limbs felt numb but she sniffed and wiped her eyes and nose, and then shot shakily to her feet before he had another chance to come after her. She grabbed her keys, though she didn't plan on driving and wasting gas when there was nowhere to go. At least this way he couldn't take her car for a joy ride. She picked up her backpack that she had dropped when she opened the door too quickly, and slipped outside and into the night.

* * *

Hey, folks, sorry to break it off here, but I figure once I get this into proper format, it's going to be even longer than I intended __ woops, oh, well, I'm sure you won't mind after such a long wait, right? :D anyways, thanks for reading, and reviewing and all that good stuff, cause it honestly does help me to get this story moving along when I hit a dry spell. Thanks again, see you in the next chapter!

Reference Section~ eh? There's only one this time. Here goes:

1. Wolf – Kouga's nickname, his last name is Wolfe, heh, yeah I know, so original right? :P anyway, if you'll notice, he has many wolf-like qualities, so Sango and a few friends have kindly nicknamed him that.

ja ne~


	4. Deep Breath

Ahaha…yeah, so hey, funny story…__ well, It's been a while, so let me know what you think. You get to find out a bit more about Sango in this one~ fun, fun!! Sorry for the wait and thanks to everyone who still bothers to read my monstrosities. 33

**(dis)Claimer:** If it were mine, Sango would probably be the main character

**Be My Escape**

**Chapter 4**

**xxX POISON Xxx**

Flick. Flick. Flick.

Miroku sighed as he flicked yet another crumb off the table in the downtown Beso Burger.

'_I wonder why she…_'

His mind flashed back to the day's events, the fight, forgetting his jacket, Sango giving him his jacket and taking off…

He sighed once more. This had been the first time a girl had ever stood him up.

"Heh. I'm not giving up though!" He grinned, and the young waitress arrived with his double-double cheeseburger with extra ketchup, giving him a weird look because he was talking to himself. He cleared his throat.

"Miss, may I say that you look absolutely beautiful tonight. What time do you get off of work?" He said, hoping to distract her with flattery.

"Uhm, my **boyfriend** is picking me up, sorry." And with that, she sped away from his table in record time.

'_Ugh…rejected twice in one day. I must be losing my edge._' He sighed for the third time that night, unwrapped his burger, and took a gigantic bite out of it.

'_Their tables may be dirty, but the food is great! Not to mention that this is the first thing I've eaten all day and it's already-' _here he paused his chewing to look at his watch.

'-_5:30_' He thought as his stomach grumbled a complaint. He hailed to its request and resumed eating the massive burger.

She jumped to attention at the sound of a car horn blaring past her and sighed in relief when she realized someone had only gotten cut off before the intersection.

'_I've gotta pay attention before I get mugged or something…_' She looked up and surveyed her surroundings- she'd merely been wandering around up until now, so she figured she should find out where she was and think of a place to stay for the night.

She recognized a few of these shops…Rose Nail Salon, The Sony store, Beso Burger, the Laundromat…she was downtown.

"Okay, now that I know where I _am_-" She was interrupted by her stomach grumbling rather loudly. "Ah. Come to think of it, I haven't really eaten much today, have I? I think I have a couple dollars to spare…" She looked up at the Beso Burger and shrugged. A few unhealthy, vein-clogging meals were good for you every once in a while. She pulled the hood on her jacket up over her head so the cashiers would not see her face clearly. She vaguely wondered how bad it looked, and wasn't too keen on anyone else finding out before her. '_If only I were the type to carry a mirror on me all the time. It seems more and more like a good idea nowadays_…' She carefully crossed the street and pushed the door open to Beso burger, the chime on the door drawing the attention of the cashier.

She was a young girl, who couldn't have been much older than she could, with blonde shoulder length hair and a disgusted look on her face. Sango thought for a second that maybe it was because of her face, but then she followed the girls gaze and saw the last person she wanted to run into at a time like this.

She very nearly turned on her heel, but that damn girl at the register just had to blow her cover by calling out loudly:

"Excuse me, can I _help_ you??" Sango let out a string of curse-words in her mind, because just as the young lady called out, it caught the attention of none other than Miroku Houshi, the cute weirdo from school- Er, the weird weirdo from school. She shook her head.

'_I need to get some sleep- BIG TIME._' She quickly faced in the opposite direction and ordered under her breath whatever she saw first. Some double cheesy nonsense. She didn't care so long as long as it made her stomach stop growling at her. She quickly paid the cashier-lady and walked to the other end of the restaurant to wait for her order to arrive.

She tapped her foot anxiously, and in her desperation attempted to use telepathy to make the cashier bring her food faster. She received a strange look from the girl in return.

'_Please, PLEASE, just don't let-'_

"Excuse me." a currently unpleasant sound entered her ears.

Sango tried to ignore it.

"Uh…Excuse me?" The voice said a bit louder. She acquiesced with a hefty sigh.

"Sango…?" He said almost uncertainly, his eyebrow raised. She gave a weary nod.

'_I should've known it wouldn't be that easy._'

He gave a little chuckle, but this one was lighthearted- completely opposite to the one she had heard not too long ago. She shivered despite herself and hoped he didn't see.

"I thought you were some homeless person for a second there." He said cheerily. If he noticed, he showed no signs of it. Her eye twitched a little at this particular comment.

'_What is WITH this guy???_' she thought frantically but she started a bit at the seriousness of his voice in the next question he asked.

"So...What happened to you today?" Her eyes sprang to his face, and there were no traces of a smile, or that lighthearted chuckle. She panicked, wondering how things had managed to turn so serious so suddenly.

'_Uh-oh…_' "I, uh- I suddenly remembered that…I had to baby-sit my brother…" well, not a complete lie, right?

"Oh. Where is he?" He looked directly at her as she spoke.

"He's…at his friend's house." She said wearily. She decided she'd put the brakes on this trip down memory lane before it brought her back to a place she'd rather not be right now.

"Uh, I should really get going-" Just then, the cashier handed to her the double-double cheeseburger and Sango turned on her heel to make a beeline to the door but her sleeve was caught on something. She realized that unfortunately for her, it was Miroku's hand. He was holding it firmly, his eyes solemn and he said her name firmly. She yanked her arm in an attempt to escape, feeling tears form in her eyes like pinpricks. She briefly glanced behind her seeing the cashier lady looking on in interest and was vaguely aware that if she did not do something soon, she would end up showing a side she didn't necessarily want either of the other two people occupying the restaurant seeing.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure people don't get marks like _that_ on their face from babysitting." His voice was sharp and clear, and she felt the blood drain from her face as she started panicking.

Dear gods, he saw it. _He saw it_.

"**Sango.** Please tell me what's going on with you…let me help y-" She slapped him across the face, used his surprise as an opportunity to yank her hand free at last and bolted out of the restaurant before he saw anything else.

'_I can't drag anyone else into this…_' she wiped her eyes roughly with her sleeve as she darted down main street and skidded around the corner to a connecting street.

"Hey?! Wait up!" He shouted, tearing after her through a crowd of confused pedestrians right outside of the restaurant.

'_What?? He's chasing me after I did that?_' "Quit _following_ me!" She sped up and began weaving in and out of the crowds in an attempt to lose him.

'_Oh no you don't!_' he sped up as well and swerved off the curb to avoid the pedestrians altogether. She darted off to a side street and glanced behind her, disappointed because he was still hot on her trail.

"Just stop already!" he was gaining on her from a lack of obstacles in the street, and when he saw an opening he dived out at her, arms outstretched.

"**Stop!**"

"**Augh**!" They collided with a thud and skidded along the dusty sidewalk, ending up in a sprawled out heap with Sango haphazardly laid atop of him.

Both parties lay panting, exhausted. Sango pushed up with her arms to try to keep running, but she was stopped in her tracks when he grabbed her by both arms this time.

"Let _go_ of me!" She choked out.

"No!" It wasn't until he felt something splatter on his cheek and forehead that he noticed she was crying.

He sat up and licked his lips nervously. She had stopped struggling. Then, "Just let me _help_ somehow." His voice sounded strangely small to him.

"After all, I hate to see such a pretty girl cry…" She looked up at him finally, seeing that he had an uncertain smile on his face- something she wouldn't have expected to see on the face of someone who seemed to be so confident and cheery. Realizing that this situation was very awkward for the both of them, she supposed she should cooperate. Even if he _had_ tackled her.

"I…can't go home." She began to cry.

"I'm sorry-" she coughed. She was still out of breath and the crying wasn't exactly helping to remedy that. He pulled her into a hug to calm her down, rubbing her back and making soft shushing sounds every so often.

"You don't need to apologize for anything." He said gently.

"Yes I do…I made you lose your dinner…" It was then that it dawned on him. He'd left his poor double-double cheeseburger with extra ketchup behind. Then he noticed that her own burger was smashed when he…ahem…brought her to a halt.

He sighed (was this becoming a habit?) and said softly into her ear, "Don't worry about that…I was…done…anyways…." He cried on the inside for his delicious meal but he now had something better in mind.

"C'mon," he stood and stretched his legs out, "you can't go home, right?" He said while offering her his hand. "Why not stay with me?" he inquired. Her eyebrows shot up past her hairline. She almost thought she didn't hear him right.

"H-huh?" came her intelligent response.

She looked at his hand with both eyebrows still raised, then up to his face hesitantly, and he reassured her with a kind smile and a "Don't worry; I'll keep my hands to myself."

'_Well, I DID slap him…and I kinda stood him up…and I ran away from him…and I got him into a fight…__**and**__ I made him waste a perfectly good burger…I guess it's the least I could do for everything I've done to him in the past 24 hours. Plus it's not like I have anywhere else to go…_'

"Well…okay- but I'm not staying for long."

She looked up at his hand, still outstretched to her, unwavering, and she took it.

The door made a clicking noise as key turned in the lock, and after some effort on Miroku's part, the door shoved open with a horrible scraping noise.

"Ehehe…when the air gets moist, the doors swell…" He said scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, here we are, home sweet home." He was first to enter, and he slipped off his shoes, setting them in one of the cubbies by the door and grabbing a pair of slippers.

"I mean it," she called after him down the hallway, "I'm only staying for dinner!!"

Sango said while she entered very cautiously.

She slipped her shoes off and set them in the cubby following Miroku's example and grabbing some slippers as well.

"C'mon, you and I both know you don't have a place to stay for the night. Just relax." She gave in and continued examining her surroundings. She wondered briefly what his family situation was like, but figured she should save that for another day.

"You still hungry?" She followed him into the kitchen and nodded in the affirmative. He scratched his chin and turned around to face the cabinets. Sango took a seat at one of the barstools at the kitchen island.

"What'll you have, miss? We've got Spaghetti-O's, Ramen…and Spaghetti-O's." He said from inside the cabinet. (2)

"Some ramen sounds nice." She replied to his back.

"Yes, ma'am." He said turning around and winking.

After "dinner", he gave her a brief tour of the house. Facing away from the front door, directly to the right of the entrance was a landing in front of a staircase. Down the hallway to the left was the archway to the kitchen. Further down the hallway on the left was the bathroom and further down on the right was a dining room. She couldn't help but get the feeling that this house was empty a lot. His words echoed down the hall as if to make it seem more desolate, and a chill ran up her spine.

"No one ever uses it anymore, so it's just kind of collecting dust." he said with a light laugh. He pointed to the very end of the hallway that opened out into the living room,

"That's the living room, you can have my bed and I'll sleep on those couches there, so if you need anything, just come tell me."

"But- that's your bed, I can't just-"

"Nonsense, I'm not leaving my guest to sleep out on the couch. C'mon, I'll show you to my room." And with that, he proceeded to lead the way back down the hallway, up the stairs and straight ahead to the very first door.

He swung the door open lightly, and let her step in first. His room was rather tidy, considering the fact that he was a guy. Most of the guys Sango knew were messy as they came.

His desk was positioned along the wall to the right of the doorway, his dresser on the wall opposite the door, and his bed and nightstand on the left wall. The room had a bluish- purple tint to it, and there were unlit candles sprinkled tastefully throughout it.

"W-wow…it's so…" she couldn't quite find the right words.

"Purple? Yeah, I know." He rubbed the back of his neck while turning towards the door and announced, "Well, it's been a long day, so I'm gonna go hit the sack-" Here he looked pointedly at her over his shoulder.

"But know that I expect an explanation for those marks on your face in the morning." He said sternly. She stiffened a little as that uncharacteristically serious tone from before crept into his words.

"Now, if you need anything-" The tone disappeared just as suddenly as it had come.

"You're right down stairs." She bit her lip and hastily added,

"Houshi…thanks for everything." She sighed, but gave him a real smile this time, which he gladly reciprocated, though he raised his eyebrows at hearing his last name.

"Now that's a look I wanna see more often. It was my pleasure." She blushed a little out of embarrassment, causing him to smile once more. He gave her a quiet chuckle "And that one to. Goodnight Sango." With those parting words, he let the door click shut quietly.

Sango blew her bangs out of her eyes, and turned back around to the bed and flopped her tired body down onto it. She inhaled deeply, catching a whiff of his scent in the process. He smelled of spices and herbs and it made her relaxed and sleepy and invigorated all at the same time.

She sat up, looking down at her attire- her clothes from the day- and figured she should find some proper pajamas. In five minutes time, she managed to round up and change into an extra large t-shirt and some boxer shorts.

'_Hope he doesn't mind…_' She took her cell phone out of her pocket and seeing that it was dead, she chucked it into her backpack and flopped back onto the bed, inhaling one more time.

"Goodnight." She muttered to the ceiling, and she drifted off to dreamland.

* * *

**Thursday**

Miroku poked his head through the door he had cracked open to check on his temporary guest and seeing she was still sleeping, he slipped quietly in.

'_Hm,_ s_he looks so cute and innocent when she sleeps…_'

He set down the clothes he had washed for her at the foot of the bed. It was the least he could do to clean the dirt marks out after he tackled her to the ground.

"Mm …stayoutta the light…" Miroku chuckled quietly. It seemed Sango had some interesting dreams.

"_Mm…notthebaconmonster…!_" Some very, very, interesting dreams indeed.

He turned on his heel, before she started shouting about French toast, but just as soon as his hand touched the doorknob-

"Mm…Houshi…? That you?" He sighed.

"Yep, it's me. How did you sleep?" he said turning around to greet her-

'_WOAH!!_' There in his bed was Sango I nothing but _his_ t-shirt and boxers. '_T-they look better on her then they do on me…_' He was brought back to focus with her reply.

"Hm? Oh, just fine, I guess. Sorry, I borrowed your clothes without asking." She said rubbing her eye with the back of her fist sleepily.

"I-it's fine…" He forced himself to turn around to prevent himself from staring. "Breakfast is ready- I hope you like bacon…" he trailed off and left the room, unaware of Sango's suddenly horrified facial expression.

"So tell me." He said before forking a square of waffle into his mouth. "H- huh?" She hid her face by pretending to drink some orange juice. "Sango, I haven't poured the orange juice yet. That cup is empty." He said dryly, shaking the carton as proof. She set down her cup slowly, revealing a glare.

"Whatever, I still don't know what you're going on about."

"Oh, yes you do. We agreed last night that you were giving explanations this morning, and this morning is now." He emphasized his point first by pointing lightly toward her face, then by poking the countertop.

"Oh dear, it was so late, I can't seem to recall-"

"Sango…" He gave her a look that she interpreted to mean something like: cut the crap, but this is Sango's brain at 6:50 we're talking about, so who knows, really?

"Wh- okay! But even if I tell you, its not like it's gonna magically fix the problem anyways…" She said while absentmindedly poking a slice of bacon. She still didn't trust it…

She looked up when she felt a hand land on top of hers. His eyes- downcast and not quite meeting hers.

"I know. I just…" She sighed. Jeez, way to make her feel guilty.

"My dad- well, I guess that's not the right place to start eh?" and here she set her fork down next to her plate.

"Right after my brother was born, my mother died from complications of labor." She paused.

"Mhm…" He prompted.

"We struggled for a long time, because my father was so torn apart by my mother's death, it was difficult for him to hold a job. About…six months after my mother passed away, my father finally got so sick with grief that he went on to join her." He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, and met her eyes to show that he was listening.

"For the next few months, my brother and I traveled from orphanage to orphanage. We were just lucky to be able to stay together all that time." "There was one point in time when we were separated. I was scared to death because- He's all I've got left." She let out a sudden, humorless laugh. "About a month and a half later, we were sent to the same home again. I think that moment was the happiest I've ever been in my whole entire life."

Now she paused to collect her thoughts.

"I guess, I was so happy to have my brother back with me, I don't quite remember keeping track of how long it was until we were adopted. By that time, I was in sixth grade, Kohaku was in third grade. We were told that we were being adopted by a man named Toshiro Takahashi- Owner of one of the largest electronics companies in Japan."

Miroku's eyes snapped up at the same time hers did, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"_You mean he-_"

"Let me finish- _Please_."

"It wasn't so bad at first. Things were great, actually. We finally had a real home- I mean, sure, he was busy a lot of the time, but at least we had a father again. In fact, that's when I met Inuyasha. But, of course, a time came when he didn't feel so sure about raising two kids on his own, so he found himself a wife. That didn't last too long either, because she wasn't really ready to settle down and raise children, so she left him. He was devastated, he started coming home drunk, always mumbling about how his life had gone down the tubes…" She shifted in her chair, and licked her lips. He moved his thumb in a circle on her hand. It was a small gesture of comfort, but it was enough to get her to continue.

"I think the first time was right after I hit 7th grade. It's only gotten worse since then…even my brother now…I'm supposed to be his big sister- I'm supposed to protect him and take care of him no matter what-" She had to stop there or else she would be sporting puffy red eyes to school-

Oh, crap.

"Ah- School! I gotta go get ready!!" she stood from her bar stool and dashed up the stairs to gather all her stuff.

"Ah-…" He sighed and gave in, as she was already upstairs. He definitely couldn't just let this drop, though.

After breakfast (she never did finish that bacon), Sango returned back to her own clothing (much to Miroku's dismay), and the pair got ready for school just like it was a normal day. They walked to school with Sango putting in comments like: "Ugh, it NEVER takes this long for me to get to school" or "Oh, I've never seen this part of town before…" all the way to the campus doorsteps, and although he suspected she did this to avoid the situation turning awkward, he appreciated the company.

"**SAAAANNNGOOOOOO…!!!**"

Oh Jesus, she forgot to call Kagome. Well technically, it wasn't her fault her phone died, right?

"_**WherethehellhaveyoubeenI'vebeenworriedsickaboutyouwhydon'tyoucallpeoplewhenyougorunningofflikethat?!?!**_" She went on to comment that she was wearing the same clothes from yesterday and how she had come to school with that guy with the ponytail, and how she was worried since she ran off yesterday etc. etc.

A brief thought flitted through her mind, and she was glad she brought all that makeup with her the previous day, or Kagome would have a lot more to yell at her about than just forgetting to return phone calls.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have run off like that in the first place…Me and my stupid impulsive ideas…_' She sighed heavily and just barely heard Kagome's side comment about how some hot guy took over that other jerk's seat. As she flopped into her seat (She negotiated and let Inuyasha have her old one, since the teacher couldn't see her so easily if she fell asleep in her new seat), she thought to herself that Kagome was in for a big surprise and only vaguely heard the conversation taking place in front of her through her still-groggy state.

"Feh, it's not my fault the pencil broke, it shouldn't have been sitting in my seat in the first place, wench!"

Then, silence…

"Ah-..Y-….IT'S **YOU**!!!!!" (3)

She glanced over at Houshi and as he caught her glance, he only shrugged. Sango lay her head down in her arms.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

'_Ah, right on time' _Sango thought.

* * *

Hey, everyone, me again. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and again, sorry for the wait. I get sidetracked so easily these days- Oh, gotta feed my hamster-

I'm back…With the reference section!!! Ooh! There's three today!!

1) Beso Burger – Well, I'll make this as short and simple as I can. I needed to find a name for a cheap burger joint, so I looked around the room, and I was drinking a **Sobe.** I'll let you do the math. English. Whatever.

2) Hot damn, I love spaghetti-o's. If you have never had them before, you need to get yourself to a store. Now.

3) I'm assuming you all know that Inuyasha transforms during the night of the new moon? That's why it slipped Sango's mind and why Kagome didn't recognize him at first. Heh…

Er, please don't think I'm characterizing Kagome as some crazy bimbo who only cares about yelling at people and hot guys. I'm working on it. Promise.

And yeah, the real reason why it took so long was because:

1- I had no internet for a while, and 2- I wrote this chapter out before, but I was pretty much just unsatisfied with it, so I've been editing it the whole time. All for you lovely people's reading pleasure~ :D see? I make you wait out of love…Don't hurt me!

-Panda out.


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